During their first concert since the shocking death of Prince early Thursday morning, America's band of record, Pearl Jam, honored the Purple One with an informal tribute.

After they finished playing "Even Flow" (which Prince had covered in 2013 during a club show in Minneapolis), frontman Eddie Vedder spoke to the audience about the impact Prince had on the band and called him "the greatest guitar player we've ever seen."

Vedder said: "The shocking news of the day was losing an incredible musician. All of us on this stage can tell you: That guy loved music so damn much. He never stopped playing, never stopped writing, never stopped recording, never stopped creating. He was dripping with songs. They’d go into the shower after he took a shower and there’d be three songs laying there."

Vedder called Prince "an intense cat" and said his death was especially shocking to the band. "If there was anyone I thought would be playing when he was 80 or 85, it was gonna be Prince." Later, before the band's first encore, the lights on stage turned purple and guitarist Mike McCready briefly transitioned from fan favorite "Yellow Ledbetter" into Prince's "Purple Rain." Check out that footage below.